It is amazing how time flies. The first month of the new year is nearly over. I haven’t told you yet, but the Dedes have to move by the first of February. Yes, they have been evicted from their large space in the living room and I don’t know yet where they are going. The space will be definitely smaller for some time to come. The reason? The builders are moving in! The Dede mansion gets a spruce up.

All the Dedes will be busy chucking out stuff over the weekend and they have to find themselves new comfortable corners in the house, where they are not in the way, yet I still get to them easily. I hope these temporarily crammed conditions won’t lead to more quarreling.

I finally found out what Devil wanted to do with those matches. He wanted to burn all his love letters he had stashed away in an inaccessible corner of the studio. I never knew he had them. When I saw him piling up paper in the backyard, I ran out shouting: “Stop, stop, stop!” He looked at me surprised, as if he wanted to say, what does she want now?

“I just read the paper. Do you know there is a total outdoor fire ban in Auckland this weekend? Please, don’t get us into more trouble!” When I realised what kind of documents he wanted to burn I asked curiously: “Why do you want to destroy them anyway?” Just between you and me, I would so like to get my hands on those.

“I am worried that someone might read them. I certainly don’t want to compromise the ladies who sent them.” Then he shrugged his shoulders and said: “And you have to let go of the past at one stage, don’t you!”